1 Kings 22
Revised Geneva Translation
22 And they continued for three years without war between Aram and Israel.
2 And in the third year, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel.
3 (For the king of Israel had said to his servants, “Did you not know that Ramoth Gilead was ours? But we stay and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Aram?)
4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle against Ramoth Gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
5 Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please ask counsel of the LORD today.”
6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I let it alone?” And they said, “Go up. For the LORD shall deliver it into the hands of the king.”
7 And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not still here a Prophet of the LORD, that we might inquire of him?”
8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man (Micaiah, the son of Imlah) by whom we may ask counsel of the LORD, but I hate him. For he does not prophesy good to me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Do not let the king say so.”
9 Then the king of Israel called a eunuch, and said, “Quickly, call Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, each sat on his throne, in their apparel, in the threshing floor, at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets prophesied before them.
11 And Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘With these shall you push the Aramites, until you have consumed them.’”
12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.”
13 And the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Behold, now, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one accord. Please let your word, therefore, be like the word of one of them, and speak good.
14 And Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, whatever the LORD says to me, that will I speak.”
15 So he came to the king, and the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall we leave off?” And he answered him, “Go up, and prosper. And the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”
16 And the king said to him, “How often shall I charge you to tell me nothing but that which is true in the Name of the LORD?”
17 Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that had no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let every man return to his house in peace.’”
18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good to me, but evil?”
19 Again he said, “Hear, therefore, the Word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sit on His throne. And all the host of Heaven stood around Him on His right and on His left.
20 “And the LORD said, ‘Who shall entice Ahab, so that he may go and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ And one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner.
21 “Then a spirit came forth and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘With what?’
22 “And he said, ‘I will go out and be a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You shall entice and shall also prevail. Go forth and do so.’
23 “Now, therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, your prophets. And the LORD has appointed misery upon you.”
24 Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “When did the spirit of the LORD go from me, to speak to you?”
25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day, when you shall go from chamber to chamber to hide yourself.”
26 And the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and carry him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son,
27 “and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this man in the prison house and feed him with bread of affliction, and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.”’”
28 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Listen, all you people!”
29 So, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth Gilead.
30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will change my apparel, and will enter into the battle. But you put on your apparel.” And the king of Israel changed himself and went into the battle.
31 And the king of Aram commanded his thirty-two captains over his chariots, saying, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only against the king of Israel!”
32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely it is the king of Israel!” And they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried.
33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from him.
34 Then a man drew a bow mightily and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. Therefore, he said to his chariot man, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am hurt.”
35 And the battle increased that day. And the king stood still in his chariot, against the Aramites, and died at evening. And the blood ran out of the wound, into the midst of the chariot.
36 And there was a proclamation throughout the battle, around the going down of the Sun, saying, “Every man to his city. And every man to his own country.”
37 So the king died and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria.
38 And someone washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria. And the dogs licked up his blood (and they washed his armor), according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke.
39 Concerning the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
40 So Ahab slept with his fathers. And Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his place.
41 And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign upon Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign and reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
43 And he walked in all the ways of Asa, his father, and did not depart from them, but did that which was right in the Eyes of the LORD. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still offered and burnt incense in the high places.
44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Concerning the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his worthy deeds that he did, and his battles which he fought, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
46 And the Sodomites who remained in the days of his father, Asa, he put clear out of the land.
47 There was then no king in Edom. The deputy was king.
48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to sail to Ophir for gold. But they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion Geber.
49 Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not.
50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David, his father. And Jehoram, his son, reigned in his place.
51 Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.
52 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.
53 For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked the LORD God of Israel to wrath, according to all that his father had done.
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